2020.01.3009:27:00UTC+00Gold Inches Up As China Virus Spreads

Gold prices rose slightly on Thursday as risk sentiment remained fragile ahead of a World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee meeting today to discuss whether the coronavirus constitutes a global health emergency.

Spot gold edged up by 0.2 percent to $1,579.46 per ounce, after having risen 0.7 percent in the previous session. U.S. gold futures were up half a percent at $1,578.15.

Investors remain concerned about the extent of the economic damage that the coronavirus may ultimately inflict, in China or around the world.

"There is likely to be some disruption to activity in China and globally," Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday. "It's very uncertain how far it will spread and what the (economic) effects will be in China, for its trading partners, and around the world.. We are very carefully monitoring the situation."

Preliminary figures showed that China now has more cases of the coronavirus that it had of SARS.

Powell's comments about a low inflation outlook also added to the precious metal's appeal.

"We're not satisfied with inflation running below 2 percent, particularly at a time such as now where we're a long way into an expansion and a long way into a period of very low unemployment when in theory inflation should be moving up," Powell said in the post-meeting press conference after the policy statement was released.